Me and My Pig(s): Hi, and thank you for the site.

[ZMaiden]

Hello, just wanted to introduce myself. I'm a first time cavy owner. I've got my little man Devastator. Couldn't tell you how old he is, since I got him at petsmart and they really know nothing about their own animals. He's about small enough to fit in my two hands if they were a table Anyway, I've been using the cage I got when I bought him, and he's finally starting to outgrow it so I'm trying to build him a bigger one. I'd appreciate any tips and such. I'm having real trouble trying to figure out how to make a fleece covering since I'm special ed when it comes to sewing. Any help there would be amazing.
I'd also love to know anything ya'll know about socializing a piggy and a kitty. I give them floor time together and they're so cute with one another, but I'm still afraid to turn my back on them. Anyway, thanks for the site, it's already been a great help (would never have thought of using fleece).

[Ly&Pigs]

Read the About Cages and Bedding forums for info on C&C cages and types of beddings you can use. There is also the fleece project study thread in the bedding forum.

Please don't socialize your pig and kitty. Pigs are prey animals and cats are predatory. It's better for both if they have no interaction at all.

[ZMaiden]

Well, on the one hand I understand that reasoning, on the other I don't like sweeping generalizations of animal behavior. If you saw the way my kitty is with Devastator, you would understand. Bageerah the kitty is a box rescue, he was abandoned before he was weened. It's made him super clingy and super shy. He's so fascinated with Devastator, and he'll sleep on top of the cage and meow to Devy whenever he wakes up. Devastator will squeek up a little storm whenever Bageerah goes away, and won't stop till he comes to hang out some more. I put them on the floor for fun time and they chase each other through tunnels. Though let me tell you, it's Devy doing most of the chasing. I've seen Bageerah try and groom Devy. I've seen the two of them go to sleep on top of each other.
But I do get that Bageerah is slightly larger (not by much though), and more prone to roughhousing. This is why I don't let them be alone out of cages. I do believe however, that Bageerah loves Devastator and visa versa, and that he'd never intentionally hurt him. If I'd left them to be a vague mystery to eachother, I think there woiuld be more danger of "oooh, what's this? I should eat it." But then, I think it's a cat by cat basis. Bageerah is kind of odd for a cat. He's clingy, dependant, and a cuddle monkey - and he doesn't even use his claws when he's roughhousing with me! weird kitty. Devastator has broken skin more than Bageerah has. Wow, I think I'm a little pet obsessed.

[Ly&Pigs]

I've been through a situation similar to yours recently. I had adopted a 7 week old kitten the first of May. For the first probably 2-3 weeks she was here, she never noticed the pigs cage at all. I never introduced the kitten and the pigs. Bella did eventually discover the pigs cage on her own though. I've never put a lid on my girls cage and I have a 10 year old cat named Sassy whose afraid of the pigs.

Bella decided one day it was nice to lay in the pigs cage. She has never hurt them but I still don't and never will trust Bella around the pigs. I've since trained her to stay out of the pigs cage and she doesn't get in there anymore and I still don't have a lid nor do I plan on putting a lid on there unless it becomes absolutely necessary.

I did floortimes a few times without removing Bella from the room or putting the pigs in another room with closed doors. My girl CoCo folllowed Bella around one day and tried to bite her tail. Since then, I either put Bella in my bedroom when the girls are out in the living room/kitchen or put the pigs in my room for floortime because I am afraid of what Bella may do if CoCo decides to bite her tail.

Basically what I am trying to say is that cats are fickle creatures and you can never tell about them. Your pig and kitty may get along great then one day out of the blue something could potentially happen. I have to watch my own kitty for this as well.

[ZMaiden]

Isn't it so funny that the cats seem to be afraid of the piggies? I really thought it would be the other way around. So cute though.